Harrigan

by Max Brand

A classic western from the pen of Max Brand. This title is also available in paperback from amazon, ISBN 978-184778-0737

Genres: Westerns, Fiction, Adventure, Historical Fiction

210 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Frederick Schiller Faust (see also Frederick Faust), aka Frank Austin, George Owen Baxter, Walter C. Butler, George Challis, Evin Evan, Evan Evans, Frederick Faust, John Frederick, Frederick Frost, David Manning, Peter Henry Morland, Lee Bolt, Peter Dawson, Martin Dexter, Dennis Lawson, M.B., Hugh Owen, Nicholas Silver

Max Brand, one of America's most popular and prolific novelists and author of such enduring works as Destry Rides Again and the Doctor Kildare stories, died on the Italian front in 1944.

Reviews

[Louie the Mustache Matos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I acquired Harrigan as a part of a 20 book collection of Max Brand novels. When I opened it up, I expected a western. (Max Brand is my favorite western author.) Little did I know that Max Brand is a pen name for Frederick Faust, and that Brand was not just a writer of westerns.

Harrigan is an adventure novel that takes place at sea (a la Treasure Island). Harrigan gets convinced that a seafaring life is a worthy life, but his initial experience with Black McTee is different from his further experiences. This story contains a shipwreck, a mutiny, buried treasure, a love story, and betrayal, not necessarily in that order. This is a fun adventure story that is about 250 pages, popular around the time of the pulps. A good read.

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aug 23, 6pm ~~Okay, nine chapters is enough for me here.

Max Brand frequently writes about big men who love to battle their way through the world. In this book from 1918 we have two such men, McTee with black hair and Harrigan with red hair. They first meet in a street brawl in Honolulu, and then by chance end up on the same tramp steamer. The man with black hair is the captain of the ship and our red-headed hero becomes a deckhand.

Captain's goal is to break the spirit of Harrigan, even though they are basically equal in temperament, size and strength. Will he be able to make our hero bow down and accept that McTee is his superior?

Cue lady passenger. Cue big storm. Cue ship wreck where what do you know, those three people seem to be the only survivors and have all washed up onto the same little uncharted island.

And that was as far as I could make myself go. I can imagine the rest of the story myself and it is not something I care to wallow through for another 29 chapters.

I am getting close to the end of my Max Brand challenge list, so my next Gutenberg book will be another MB title. I hope there will be at least one horse in it to counterbalance any overdone male posturing that may happen. It's not so bad to read all that stuff if there is a good horse in the story too. lol

DNF after nine chapters.

[Aravind · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know if I could call this a Western, because it takes place almost entirely on board a ship in the Pacific Ocean. But, it has all the elements of a great Western - strong characters, cheeky dialogues, lively action, and acts of terrible violence and laudable valour.
I hugely enjoyed this action-packed tale!

[Matt Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable Western novel from nearly one hundred years ago. Quite old fashioned, although not nearly so much as Zane Grey. Worth the time.

[Robbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

WESTERN
Jim read this on 6-18-16 and rated it 4.7 stars.

[tim curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

Max brand is a very different kind of novelist. I appreciate the variety of stories he tells. So many of the western writers have the same basic story in there books. Bad guy tries to steal the land or ranch and woman good guy comes wondering in from nowhere and gets the woman and saves the day . You won't find that in brand's novels he has a lot of different ideas. This is a great example of that.

[Dora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't know what I was gonna be reading when I picked this book! It was a great story, especially for an older book. I don't read too many of the older books, as I find them long winded and wordy. But this was great!
The action! The drama! Treasure! Mutiny! Shipwreck! Irish sass and Scottish music, a love triangle and a burning ship at sea!

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A different Max Brand book.

A book that isn’t a western. The characters were hard to get to understand or like. It’s a ok book, but not what I expected from the past books I’ve read of the author. It’s the type you feel you are wasting your time reading, but you want to know the ending.

[John Lietzke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of "Harrigan" by John Lietzke

This is the first book I have read is about seafarring(spelling?) people. I thought it was a western. I thought the book was well written so I gave it four stares. The story ending was unexpected

[Norman D. Voiles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't like the contrived and tortuous plot. Excessive violence.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adventurous reading 🎧
A will written novel of adventure about Harriman and Black McTee love for a lady. I would recommend this novel to readers of adventure novels. Enjoy reading 2021 🎉✨

[JW Dillingham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read

My favorite western authors are L'Amour, Brand, and Gray, and each one is different. I really enjoyed this Brand book which I hadn't come across before. Different locale as on the seated not in western USA. Hard to put down.